A policeman is due in court in Bolton charged with murdering his police constable fiancee.

Officers were called to the scene of a car crash in Bolton in the early hours of Thursday where they found constable Claire Howarth, 31, with serious head injuries.

Constable Claire Howarth died as a result of head injuries, a post mortem said

They were not consistent with having been caused in the collision, a police source said, and on Saturday Martin Forshaw, 26, was charged with her murder.

Pc Howarth’s silver BMW left Tottington Road, Harwood, at 2.25am. There was no obvious damage to the outside of the car. She was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: “A post-mortem examination has concluded she died as a result of severe head trauma.”

Detectives cordoned off the couple’s home in Meadow Way, Tottington, Bury, and arrested Forshaw.

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John O’Hare, Chief Supt at the Rochdale divisional headquarters, said Pc Howarth’s family and friends were “absolutely distraught, as we all are”.

He added: “Claire was a person who brought light into the police station. I’ve met with Claire’s mother and she’s obviously distraught and wants to just make the point that it’s her daughter and she very much loved her.”

Pc Howarth had recently completed her two-year probationary period with the police and was set to become a community beat manager in Falinge, Greater Manchester.